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Sonny Corleone
Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is the eldest of the Corleone children, known for his temper and compulsive aggression. He was portrayed by James Caan. Biography Early Years .]] Sonny was the oldest, most impulsive and violent of Vito's sons and, before Michael's rise to power, the most involved in the Corleone crime family. It was he who was supposed to head the family business after the death of Vito. Vito always blamed himself for this, as the boy saw his father murder Don Fanucci, and so the Don would look like a hypocrite if he lectured Sonny against criminal acts. Sonny is not without a softer side, however; while 10, he met a homeless boy, Tom Hagen, who thereafter lived with the family. He also acted as a protector to his younger siblings, especially Connie due to the traditional fierce Sicilian affection for sisters. He also once beat a man to death for attempting to roll his brothers in a pool game. He also extended this help to his neighbors: when the Corleones first moved to Long Beach, there was an incident with three furnace inspectors who tried to pull a scam on Don Corleone's house, and Sonny was told by his father to deal with it. His father was secretly testing his son on how he'd handle the problem, but the result did not altogether please Vito. After beating the workmen, forcing them to repair the damage they did, and throwing them out at gunpoint, Sonny called the home-improvement firm they worked for and threatened the owner to not send any more "inspectors" into the Long Beach area again. This was frowned upon by his father as being too violent an action, saying that his son must be 'the rapier, not the the club'. While a known murderer, Sonny couldn't bring himself to harm anything he views as helpless (like women, children and people who don't fight back), which turn out to be life-saving for his wife-beating brother-in-law Carlo Rizzi. The Mafia Life Sonny was brought into his father's world of crime at the age of 15, after a botched liquor store robbery. His Godfather, Peter Clemenza, had brought the matter to Vito, and Vito was far less than pleased. Unfortunatly, Sonny revealed how he had seen Fannucci's murder, and though Vito pleaded with him to finish school and get a legitimate job, Sonny insisted on learning the "Family Business". Genco Abbandando originally placed Sonny as a bodyguard for his father, more so that the Don could instruct his son personally, often looking and sounding like a college professor during a lecture. Clemenza taught Sonny how to shoot and use the garotte, but was saddened when Sonny preferred the gun over the strangulation wire. During the Olive Oil War (or the Pacification of New York), Sonny saw little action until Don Corleone got shot down by some Irish thugs. With his father in the hospital, Sonny formed his own crew and took to the streets, showing his hidden genius for urban warfare. Like Julius Caesar or Napoleon, he was able to take block after city block with relative ease, gaining a reputation as one of the most brutal and vicious leaders and executioners in the eastern underworld, overshadowed only by his father's personal hitman Luca Brasi. Family Life In 1936, Sonny married Sandra, a young Italian immigrant, and they had four children, Francesca, Kathryn, Frank and Santino Jr.. It was said that he was a kind and loving father, and a good (but unfaithful) husband. Unusually, his infidelites did not trouble his wife, who was scared of making love due to Sonny's large "appendage". Santino was a devoted son, which initially got him the nickname "Sonny". It was a combination of this devotion and is temper that led to the Great Mob War of the late 1940's, when his father was shot by Irish assassins. His devotion to his father earned his nickname, as could be seen when he attacked Michael for deciding to tell Vito that he had enlisted in the Marines and left college on his birthday. Taking over as Don The normal course of events in Sonny’s life is upturned when Virgil Sollozzo comes to Don Vito with an offer of entering the drug business, backed by the Tattaglia family. The Don does not want to enter the drug business, Sonny shows interest in the deal. This led Sollozzo to believe that if the Godfather could be taken out of the way, Sonny would agree to work with him. An assassination attempt on the Godfather is arranged. The assassination attempt fails but leaves the Godfather near death, although he eventually recovers. Sonny, now enraged and acting as the Corleone Family's Don, prepares for an all-out war against the Tattaglias unless they agree to turn over Sollozzo. Michael, who had previously distanced himself from the family's criminal enterprise, volunteers to kill Sollozzo and his bodyguard, police captain Mark McCluskey. Sonny, though impressed with his little brother's courage, is initially against the idea, thinking Michael is too inexperienced in Mafia matters, but Michael eventually talks him into it. Michael kills both Sollozzo and McClusky, and is sent immediately to Sicily to wait out the inevitable crackdown on the Five Families. Bruno Tattaglia, Don Phillip Tattaglia's son, is also killed after being thrown into an oven at a crematory. This action was seen as an uneccesary act of retaliation by his caporegimes, but in fact Sonny's actions nearly crippled the Tattaglias. At this time, Sonny became good friends with soldati Aldo Trapani, who helped him bring down a secret Cuneo racket run by Artie Manzanero. The Death of Sonny Corleone In retaliation, Tattaglia's partner and the Don of one of the most powerful of the Five Families, Emilio Barzini, enlists the help of Sonny's brother-in-law, Carlo Rizzi, in setting a trap for the impulsive new Don. Sonny had recently inflicted a particuarly vicious public beating on Carlo, after finding out that Carlo was abusing his wife Connie, Sonny's little sister. To draw Sonny out into the open, Rizzi inflicts a particularly vicious beating on Connie, who telephones Sonny, begging for help. In a fit of rage, Sonny leaves the family compound unaccompanied and heads for Connie's apartment to take revenge upon (and perhaps kill) Rizzi. As Sonny approaches a toll plaza, a number of Barzini's men emerge from the toll booths and car ahead of Sonny's withsubmachine guns and viciously gun him down after spraying his car with lead, forcing the wounded Sonny to make an attempt at a hasty retreat, but he is shot in the head before trying to escape. He is dead at the age of thirty-one, two months short of his thirty-second birthday. Sonny's death persuades Vito to call a truce with the other Families. After Vito's death, Michael took revenge by having Carlo Rizzi killed, after promising Connie he would not; she resented him for years afterward, even though Rizzi abused and cheated on her during their marriage. Santino's Legacy Thirty years after Sonny died, his illegitimate son with Lucy Mancini, Vincent, began to assert himself within the Family, personally eliminating Family enemy Joey Zasa, before being appointed as Michael's sucessor as the Don Corleone. Sonny's legitimate children are not known to have ever played any significant role in the Family. Behind the Scenes Sonny's death scene was a reminiscent of the death of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Sonny was named after Sonny Capone, Al Capone's son. Category: Corleones Category: Underbosses